


Outage

by cognomen



Series: Cognomen's List of Things that Aren't Reptiles [20]
Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: Multi, Power Outage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-08 01:19:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14093877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cognomen/pseuds/cognomen
Summary: February Ficlet Challenge Day 20. Pairing: Joseph Christiansen, Mary Christiansen, and Robert Small. Prompt: Trapped in the dark.“I wish the HOA would do something about all these outages,” mary complains into her third glass of wine.“Mary, darling,” her husband reminds, in that tone of his that's always just shy of fighting. “You had the homeowner’s association dissolved when the left a notice that our rose bushes weren’t a regulation color.”





	Outage

“I wish the HOA would _do_ something about all these outages,” mary complains into her third glass of wine.

“Mary, darling,” her husband reminds, in that _tone_ of his that's always just shy of fighting. “You had the homeowner’s association dissolved when the left a notice that our rose bushes weren’t a regulation color.”

In honesty, it’s one of Mary’s best memories since moving into this dumpy neighborhood. She smiles into her wine as she remembers threatening to eviscerate them. It’s not the sort of logic she’s in the mood for at the moment, however.

“Well, can't’ you do something about it?” she demands. “You could at least pray.”

“That’s not how-” Joseph starts to say, a little more forcefully, losing patience with her irreverence right as she stops listening to him.

Right before the fight breaks out, the back door opens and closes. Both of them go tense, before Robert’s familiar voice cuts in through the air. “Hey. Power’s out.”

Of course, the only person with a key to the back door. Robert enters their darkened living room with an open bottle in his fist and a swagger that suggests he’d been working on it since the lights first went out.

“I’ll get some candles,” Joseph says, awkwardly. He slips off into the kitchen and rifles around audibly in the junk drawers.

“You doing okay?” Robert asks her. He offers her his bottle in a gesture of solidarity. She trades her wine glass for it, and they both drink.

“How do you drink this?” Robert wonders, wrinkling his nose as he hands back her wine glass.

“Practice,” she says. “What brings you to our happy household?”

Robert chuckles, accepts his body back. “No distractions usually puts a little unrest in the air. Figured if I offered one, it might break up a fight. It does remind me of the time I saw a mothman.”

“What, the power being out?” Mary laughs.

“No, the look on Joe’s face when I came in,” Robert says, a little too soon for it to be less than a scripted pun.

Mary wrinkles up her nose at the joke. It’s funny, but not in a laugh out loud way. “Okay. You probably did _stop_ a fight this time, which is unusual.”

Robert’s good at starting them, too, but it’s not his fault. Joseph’s sins were the point of contention and they’d both been hurt by Joseph—enough for an amnesty truce between them. For a moment, they stand around awkwardly before Joseph returns with a softly glowing candle.

“Can I suggest a board game?” Joseph says, sweeping emotional things under the old rug he’s woven out of denial. It’s one of Mary’s biggest peaves. Joseph always wants to play pretend; pretend family, pretend normality, pretend nothing bad ever happens.

She exchanges a glance with Robert, ready to deride the suggestion, but she sees a strange, tired look in her friend’s eyes and wonders where all _that_ comes from. It’s a look that suggests he wants anything but a fight.

“Well,” She says, reminding herself to ask later what’s got Robert afraid of the dark. “As long as it’s not monopoly.”

“I was thinking clue,” Joseph suggests, with a timid smile, and mary sees the uncertainty in his candle-lit features, suspicion because they’re going along with him too easy.

Mary loves when they keep him guessing. “I’ll be Mrs. Peacock.”


End file.
